FAQ
Q: What is medical herbalism?
A: Modern herbal knowledge spans the globe and human history, and most herbalists in the UK have access to hundreds of herbs. It is a subtle art, which takes into account patient’s disease symptoms, medical/diet/lifestyle histories as well as constitution and energetics (e.g. do you tend to be hot or cold). We recognise that no one person is the same, and we will put together herbal medicines specially formulated for each patient. This will be a bespoke tincture mix, tea blend, creams, ointments, depending on what is going on with the patient’s body. We also give dietary and lifestyle coaching, including supplement suggestions.
Q: What conditions can a medical herbalist help with?
A: We offer a free 15 minute telephone consultations to see if herbal medicine is for you.
Reasons patients commonly attend herbal clinics are:
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Chronic issues: skin diseases, problems with digestion, frequent cold/flus/infections, stress/anxiety, sleep disorders, hormonal imbalances, gynae and urinary issues, hypertension, joint pains
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Wanting to try gentler natural medicine before pharmaceutical medicines with more potential side effects for e.g. menopause, obesity
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When pharmaceutical medicine fails to treat their condition, for example:
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skin conditions (e.g. eczema, psoriasis, acne, rosace) which is not responding to steroids and other medications
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hypothyroditis symptoms persisting despite Levothyroxine compliance
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diabetes that is steadily getting worse despite metformin compliance
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hypertention despite having taken multiple hypotensive medications
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recurrent urinary tract infection that keep coming back despite repeated antibiotics use
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Needing help coping with long term stress or severe illness
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Needing help optimising blood markers (e.g. enough white blood cells) to prepare for medical treatments (e.g. chemotherapy)
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…and more!
Q: What training do medical herbalists receive?
A: Medical herbalism is a 4-year degree course covering:
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General medicine: human anatomy, physiology and biochemistry (how a healthy body works), pathophysiology (what happens when you get sick), clinical examination skills (including use of stethoscopes, sphygmomanometer, etc), interpretation of medical tests (including blood tests), diagnostics, pharmacology
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Herbal materia medica, phyto-medicine/plant chemistry. botany
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500 hours practical clinical training under experienced herbalists, learning patient interview techniques, diagnosis, prescription formulation, dispensing
Q: What happens in a herbal medicine appointment?
A: Herbalism is in many ways like old fashioned doctoring – we can take the time to get to know you, to help us understand better when and what went wrong with your health. We are looking to treat not just your symptoms, but also the root cause of your illness.
Your first appointment will take around 90 minutes, where I will cover your entire medical history, as much as you know/can remember from now back to your birth (including, e.g. were you born via caesarean?), your current dietary and lifestyle circumstances, etc. If you can come to the clinic, I will physically examine you with your consent if your symptoms justify this, and I will usually take a blood pressure. After your appointment, I will formulate your bespoke herbal remedies and your personal management plan including tailored advice on diet and lifestyle.
Q: How long will I need to see a herbalist?
A: This will depend on your condition. Acute conditions can resolve after taking remedies for a week or two. For less serious chronic conditions like acne, 3 months may be all it takes for the condition to resolve. But there are also chronic lifelong afflictions like heart failure, for which you may require palliative medication for the rest of your life.
For chronic conditions that can be resolved, the general rule of thumb is, the longer you’ve suffered from that disease, the longer it takes to heal from it. Individual constitution can also play a part, with some people reacting quickly to herbs, while others experiencing a more slow but steady healing.
Q: Do/can you order tests?
A: Where possible, I will try and help you get the tests you need from the NHS. If the tests we need cannot be obtained from the NHS, I can order tests from private companies, and that will be charged separately.
Q: I want to keep taking my NHS prescription and worried herbal medicine will interact with my medication
A: As medical herbalists, we are trained to prescribe safely alongside your NHS prescriptions. You will not have to come off any medication that you feel is necessary for your health.
Q: I am a little worried that herbal medicine is too unscientific for me
A: With my decade+ experience working as a medical researcher, I have expertise understanding and interpreting medical literature. I will help you navigate up-to-date medical evidence and combine that with traditional herbal material medica, to provide a balanced application of knowledge from the past and present.
Q: Why herbal medicine in this day and age?
As books and documents stored in the National Institute of Medicine will testify, until early 20th Century, all doctors were trained in phyto-medicine, or herbalism, and used plants to heal sickness. Phyto-medicine fell out of fashion as technology allowed pharmaceutical companies to isolate therapeutic molecules and turn them into mass-produced medications. Pharmaceutical companies are to this day spending millions annually to mine traditional plant knowledge from around the globe, because new therapeutic molecules are still being discovered from plants.
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More recently, both patients and doctors are starting to realise that these pharmaceutical single-constituent medicines targeting symptoms are not always curative, especially for chronic diseases, and some patients are wanting a more root-cause approach. People are very different from one another, and we also see patients who are finding themselves not responding to pharmaceutical medicines as well as expected, or suffering side-effects.
Although modern medicine is great at treating all sorts of acute conditions (if you are having a heart attack, go to A&E!), herbs can also help with common colds and flus, various infections (including MRSA), joint injuries and much more.
Herbal medicine is a great resource for anyone who wants another path to health, whatever the reason.
Q: How do herbal medicines work compared to pharmaceutical drugs?
A: Pharmaceutical medicines contain usually one, but sometimes two to three (e.g. co-codamol has both codeine and paracetamol) active therapeutic ingredients in every dose. These therapeutic molecules are often discovered from plants, like aspirin from willow bark, morphine from opium poppy seeds, and even chemotherapy drugs like Paclitaxel from Pacific yew bark.
When even the more benign of these constituents are taken outside the plant context, risk of side effects can increase. For example aspirin is an acetyl form of salicylic acid found in willow barks and meadowsweets. As aspirin, it can cause both stomach upset and reduced ability for platelets to coagulate increasing the risk of bleeding. Salicylic acid in meadowsweet actually works to protect the stomach from injury, and presents no anticoagulant risk.
Second, many patients find that after long-term use, many drugs, for example beta-blockers for blood pressure control, can lose effectiveness. Thus patients sometimes find they need higher doses or change in drug combination to achieve the same effect, increasing their risk of side effects. This is not a problem in herbal medicine, because of the chemical complexity – herbs work on the body from multiple angles, preventing bodies from finding ways to work around the single constituent that can reduce effectiveness.
Further, organisms like bacteria and parasites do not develop resistance to herbal medicine the way they do to single constituent antibiotics and antiparasitics. In any herbal extract there are large number of chemicals which work together to prevent things like antibiotic resistance from developing. This is partly because many plants do not work by simply chemically killing the bacteria, but also work with your body, using your immune system, to eliminate infection.
This is not to say there are no poisonous plants, or that dosage is not an issue in herbal medicine. Some plants have very strong, and even deadly effects, and require knowledge to prescribe them safely. Some stronger herbs like Lobelia (for coughs) and Gelsemium (for pain) cannot be bought over the counter and require seeing a herbalist to access.
Q: What is the cost of herbal medicine?
A: Compared to pharmaceutical medicine, herbal medicine is cheap. Although you don’t have to pay for NHS treatment and prescription at the point of contact, NHS is funded by everyone paying for National Insurance. Thus you don’t see the actual cost of each prescription, but many pharmaceutical drugs are very expensive.
Costs of herbal medicine can vary widely – most commonly prescribed teas and tinctures are the cheapest starting from £10-15 per week. After your first consultation, you will be initially given prescription for 2-3 weeks, at which point there will be a quick follow-up consultation, and all being well, you will be given a 6 weeks prescription. After this second follow-up. you can keep reordering repeat prescriptions for up to 6 months.
The consultation and dispensing fees cover development of bespoke clinical management plan and prescriptions, research, dispensing, letters to doctors, premises, insurance, etc. For every hour spent in a consultation, further 2-3 hours are spent in analysing, researching, formulating management plans and prescriptions.
Q: What is your privacy policy?
All personal data shared with us is held safely and securely in accordance with GDPR guidelines & privacy legislation. As a healthcare clinic, we record personal, medical and financial information. Personal and medical information is used to provide optimal healthcare. Contact details are used to issue reminders, appointment updates and relevant medical correspondence. Financial information arise from invoicing/payment of consultation/dispensary fees.
Medical record summaries may be shared with GP’s and medical professionals only with the consent of patients and where it is necessary to do so. Confidential records will not be shared unless we are legally obliged.
It is legal requirement that we keep adult medical records for 7 years, and paediatric medical records for 7 years after their 18th birthday. Beyond that period, we operate a “Right to be forgotten” policy, and all records will be shredded/deleted. Before deletion, these records remain the property of the patients and are available upon that patient’s request within 2 working days where it is feasible and possible to do so. Any complaints in relation to data storage/privacy should be made to the Information Commissioner’s Office. If we plan to use personal data for a new purpose, we update our privacy information and communicate any changes to individuals before starting any new processing.